In trimming garden shrubs and the like, it is desirable to have a trimming guide which indicates the amount of growth to be removed and also to indicate a desired configuration which the plant will have as soon as the trimming has been completed. A number of prior patents disclose the idea of shrub trimming guides, among which are U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,478,081; 2,679,691; 2,883,756; and 3,487,614. With the exception of U.S. Pat. No. 2,883,756, all of these patents have structures which limit the configuration of the trimmed shrub to a single outer peripheral shape. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,883,756, a guide made of interconnected, articulated links is disclosed with the member being formed into one of a number of different shapes by articulating the links so that collectively they assume the desired configuration.
The present invention has the following advantages over the previously listed patents:
1. Use of a resilient continuous guide member enables one to define a smooth, variable size and contoured outline for plant trimming, easier and more quickly than the linked member of U.S. Pat. No. 2,883,756 described above. PA1 2. The present submitted trimming guide includes structure which houses the excess length of the guide member, out of the way during the trimming guide operation. Housing the unused portion of the member is particularly desirable when applying the guide to smaller size plants, where a large portion of the member is unused and allows the trimming guide to be easily adjustable to the trimming of a wide range of plant sizes. A disadvantage of U.S. Pat. No. 2,883,756 is that adjustment for plant size requires folding segments of either or both ends of the linked member, which could encumber the trimming operation. PA1 3. The present submitted trimming guide maintains its shape regardless of its position around the outer peripheral margin of a plant. A disadvantage of the linked member of U.S. Pat. No. 2,883,756 is that the shape of the guide can be accidentally changed because the links, when moved or otherwise contacted, will change their positions with respect to each other and thereby change the configuration to which a plant is to be trimmed. This is a problem which is not easily avoided because it is necessary periodically to change the position of the guide so that it moves progressively around the outer periphery of the plant during the trimming operation.
No satisfactory shrub trimming guide has until now been developed which easily and quickly defines and maintains a contoured outline for trimming plants, which allows for variation in shape of this outline, and easily adjusts to a wide range of plant sizes.